Michigan's proposed clean water rules come with huge price tag

Thursday

Legislation now under consideration in Lansing would be the strictest in the country for municipal water systems.

Proposed legislation that will make Michigan’s drinking water rules the strictest in the country will have a major impact on local municipalities.

Gov. Rick Snyder’s administration is nearing completion on the drinking rules for lead. His plan eventually will result in the replacement of all 500,000 lead service pipes in the state despite opposition from municipalities and utilities.

The proposed lead and copper rules, which were announced in 2016 after the water crisis in Flint, were formally unveiled last year. The legislation changes are likely to take effect in June. The governor still has not signed the bill but he is expected to do so.

The changes could come with a heavy price tag for many communities including the City of Monroe.

LINE REPLACEMENT

“Right now, the city has under 700 lead service lines,” said Barry S. LaRoy, director of water and wastewater management for the city. “We have been working to reduce those numbers in the last few years.”

Since 1999, the city has reduced its lead service lines by 70 percent. In 2017, the city replaced 64 lines. The year before, 90 lines were replaced and another 60 were swapped out in 2015. The city frequently pairs its line replacements with road construction work to cut down on costs.

Going forward, LaRoy said, the city is hoping to complete 130 lines a year until the 700 are replaced.

However, the legislation includes replacing not just lead service lines but galvanized lines and any lead fixtures such as goose necks. The number of lines and pieces of equipment affected by the legislation changes is unknown.

“There are lines that could have lead joints or even lead packing,” LaRoy said. “We have about 1,900 galvanized or suspect galvanized lines.”

Municipalities will be required to complete an inventory to determine the number of lines and parts that would need to be replaced within their communities and submit that information to the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality.

“There a lot of changes being proposed,” LaRoy said. “(Michigan) would absolutely have the toughest standards in the country.”

The system inventory would be due by Jan. 1, 2020, though many of the changes wouldn’t take place until Jan. 1, 2025.

The cost to communities could be staggering.

“It would likely be a financial hardship to many communities,” LaRoy said. “In Monroe, we could be talking as much as $9 million.”

Currently, no financial assistance has been proposed to help municipalities make such repairs. The state previously offered grants when improvements were required for upgrades to wastewater systems. In 2015, the city received a $2 million grant that required matching funds for its asset management plan for the wastewater system.

Rich Weirich, Frenchtown Township’s water utility director, said the community doesn’t have any lead service pipes because the township was proactive in removing those years ago. At its last testing in 2017, the township’s water recorded 1 ppb for lead.

“I’m not aware of any galvanized lines, but we will have to complete an inventory like everyone else to be sure,” Weirich said.

The biggest “headache” for the township will be getting permission of the 6,300 home and business owners to check lines.

Like Frenchtown, Berlin Township won’t have to worry about replacing lead service lines. Jason Dobson, water department supervisor, said the township doesn’t have any.

“We had zero lead detected in our water the last time we tested in 2017,” Dobson said.

Still, the proposed legislation will affect many Michigan communities and Dobson sympathizes.

“It is going to be a big financial burden,” Dobson said. “We won’t fully know the extent of the burden until it goes into effect but it’s going to be significant.”

IMPROVING DRINKING WATER

In addition to the service line changes, Snyder has proposed dropping “action level” of lead from 15 parts per billion, the federal limit, to 12 ppb in 2025. Initially, the governor proposed a 10 ppb threshold but that was changed earlier this month.

The city’s water, which serves 40,000 customers, was last tested in 2016. Under current laws, it would not be tested again until 2019. During the 2016 testing, the city’s water sampling indicated the 90th percentile was 15 ppb, which is at the Environmental Protection Agency’s action level. The previous test in 2013 found just 7.7 ppb.

LaRoy said the city has been active in lowering those figures taking steps to optimize its corrosion control program to ensure city water is safe to drink.

The city treats its water with the corrosive inhibitor zinc orthophosphate, which acts as a barrier wall coating the pipes to prevent products such as lead from leaching into the water.

In early May, the city began testing a new chemical blend that uses more phosphate and less zinc to help with corrosion control.

“We will be testing daily for the next six months at the plant,” LaRoy said. Additional tests are occurring at 15 sample sites weekly along with monthly lead and copper samplings at five locations during the six months to find the right combination.

“We are trying to find our optimum corrosion control,” LaRoy said. “We have been working on this for about a year and a half now and will have our study done in November.” Customers should not notice a taste difference during testing, he said.

Additional proposals in the legislation require a minimum Ph level of 7.0 or higher. Monroe’s water is above that threshold except during algal blooms, LaRoy said.

“We may have to look at a different treatment process to meet that,” he said.

Though the proposed rules are strict, everyone agrees more can always be done to rid drinking water of lead.

“No amount of lead is safe,” Dobson said. “We know that. That’s why we can always do better.”

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